Territoire Europe at WUF13: Participation, Housing and Inclusive Urban Futures

Dr Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros represented Territoire Europe at the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Across the week, he contributed to discussions on participation, housing, recovery, capacity-building and the role of professional organisations in shaping more inclusive urban futures.

His contributions included a Habitat Village presentation on inclusive recovery after crises and disasters, linked to the UN-Habitat Professionals Forum's International Participatory Charter and the recently published special issue of Built Environment: "Inclusive Recovery from Crises and Disasters". The session explored how recovery must go beyond technical reconstruction to address homes, neighbourhoods, livelihoods, memory, trust, and the lived experience of affected communities.

Dimitrios also contributed to a training session on capacity development for sustainable urban development, organised by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP). His intervention focused on the relationship between capacity, education, advocacy, participation and housing, arguing that sustainable urban development depends not only on technical expertise, but also on the ability to connect professional knowledge with people's everyday realities.

At the WUF Academy, Dimitrios presented work from The Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, on "Homes fit for Purpose". The lecture reflected on housing, pedagogy and place-sensitive strategies, and considered how planning education can help students engage critically with the social, institutional and spatial complexity of housing delivery.

A key moment of the week was the Professionals Roundtable, where Dimitrios represented Territoire Europe during the plenary session. Speaking alongside other professional and institutional representatives, he underlined Territoire Europe's contribution to the Habitat Professionals Forum as an associate member, and its active support for the International Participatory Charter. His intervention drew attention to Territoire Europe's distinctive role in connecting professional urbanism with community engagement. In particular, he highlighted the easy-to-read and understand version of the Charter, developed and co-produced with a residential home for adults living with disability. This reflected Territoire Europe's wider commitment to ensuring that participation is made understandable, accessible and usable by the people it is meant to serve.

Throughout WUF13, recurring themes included participation, trust, housing, capacity, professional responsibility and the challenge of turning ambitious international frameworks into meaningful practice. The Forum was an opportunity to connect Territoire Europe's work on participation and accessible knowledge with wider debates on urban development, recovery and the future of professional practice.